Crisp, Doolittle making progress in rehab efforts for A's
That the Oakland Athletics are performing below expectations this season could have something to due to the extended absences of outfielder Coco Crisp and reliever Sean Doolittle.
Both players, key contributors to the club when healthy, have had injury-ravaged 2015 seasons. As Matt Kawahara of the Sacramento Bee updated on Friday, however, both are doing relatively well in their attempts to get back on the field.
Crisp has been out since May with an ongoing neck issue after playing through pain for a few weeks after his delayed start to the year. According to Kawahara, Crisp has begun swinging a bat and could presumably take live batting practice sometime soon. As for a timetable, Kawahara quotes manager Bob Melvin as saying that it all, "depends how he feels once he starts baseball activity again. (But) he’s at the point where his neck feels good enough to start down this path."
Doolittle, shelved since late May with a shoulder issue that flared up just one game into his comeback from rotator cuff surgery, has started throwing long toss in the outfield. Melvin spoke about how the club is definitely missing his presence in the bullpen: "We’d like to get him back at some point. Just getting him healthy and getting him in games again we feel like would help us. … (We would have to) see where he’s at, as far as his velocity, and how often we could use him.”
Kawahara also pointed out in his notes column that switch-pitcher Pat Venditte (who is NOT amphibious, by the way) has begun throwing bullpen sessions in his efforts to return from a right shoulder strain that put him on the DL back in June.
